Ubiquitous unified player identity tracking system

ABSTRACT

Systems and method for providing a single sign in a gaming console that associates online activity that is out-of-game/cross game, and/or online activity that is in-game, and/or activity that is offline and in-game with that account. While online, a service tracks activity of gamers and provides usage statistics in a profile. While offline, the game console tracks the player&#39;s activity via a mechanism to collect detailed information about a specific player&#39;s in-game statistics and accomplishments. The offline activity is cached and uploaded when the console connects to the online service. Players can accumulate achievements offline that are credited towards online activities.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/006,275,filed on Dec. 7,2004, entitled “UBIQUITOUS UNIFIED PLAYER IDENTITYTRACKING SYSTEM,” the entire contents of which are hereby incorporatedby reference.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE/PERMISSION

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material,which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever. The following notice applies to the software and dataas described below and in the drawings hereto: Copyright© 2004,Microsoft Corporation, All Rights Reserved.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention generally relates to the field of gaming and multimediadevices. In particular, the present invention is directed to a systemand method of creating and tracking unique gaming identity acrossmultiple contexts.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Conventional gaming systems include a concept of unique identity, whichwas intended to increase player satisfaction and create a sense ofcommunity. However, while the conventional unique identity does minimizethe effort required to play online, the unique identity failed toaccomplish these goals. One reason for this problem is that multipleplayers often share an identity because there is no easy way formultiple players to identify themselves on a shared gaming device. Thiscreates confusion as a player using a particular identity during anonline gaming session, may not be the same player in the next session orfrom the previous session.

Further, conventional identities have failed to provide a method forconveying information about players other than a limited set of gameachievements and fail to convey information about offline achievements.Thus, it is difficult to learn more about a player through theconventional unique identity. Therefore, there is a need for a uniqueidentity that is rich and includes information from both offline andonline contexts. The present invention provides such a solution.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is direct to a systems and methods for providing asingle sign in a gaming console that associates online activity that isout-of-game/cross game, and/or online activity that is in-game, and/oractivity that is offline and in-game with that account. While online, aservice tracks activity of gamers and provides usage statistics in aprofile. While offline, the game console tracks the player's activityvia a mechanism to collect detailed information about a specificplayer's in-game statistics and accomplishments. The offline activity iscached and uploaded when the console connects to the online service.Players can accumulate achievements offline that are credited towardsonline activities. In addition to learning about other players, thepresent invention allows all players, online and offline, to personalizetheir gaming experience by specifying global settings, such ascontroller vibration, that apply to all games on the system. Thiseliminates the need to customize each game individually.

In accordance with an aspect of the invention, there is provided amethod of providing a unique player identity that extends acrossmultiple contexts. The method includes providing a sign in mechanismwhere users access the gaming console via a profile associated with theunique player identity; storing settings in accordance with the profile;associating the profile with an offline account; tracking user activitywithin the offline account; and attributing the user activity to theprofile.

In accordance with a feature of the invention, an in-game profile may beassociated with the profile. Settings may be applied in accordance withthe in-game profile to game preferences and controllers

In accordance with another feature, an online service may be associatedwith the profile. Online user activity may be tracked and attributed tothe profile. Further, offline user activity may be cached andsynchronizing to the profile such that the profile reflects both theoffline and the online user activity.

In accordance with another aspect of the invention, a system forproviding a unique player identity that extends across multiple contextsis made available. The system includes an online service that tracksonline player activity in a profile associated with the unique playeridentity, and a gaming console that tracks offline player activity inthe profile. The console provides a sign in mechanism wherein usersaccess the gaming console via the profile, and settings and preferencesare stored in the profile.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be madeapparent from the following detailed description of illustrativeembodiments that proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description ofpreferred embodiments, is better understood when read in conjunctionwith the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating theinvention, there is shown in the drawings exemplary constructions of theinvention; however, the invention is not limited to the specific methodsand instrumentalities disclosed. In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a gaming console in which aspects ofthe present invention may be implemented;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exemplary architecture in which the presentinvention may be implemented;

FIG. 3 illustrates sources of information that provide input to a GamerProfile;

FIG. 4 illustrates the contexts over which the present inventionoperates to maintain a unified player identity; and

FIGS. 5-11 illustrate exemplary user interfaces for creating, accessingand using the unified player identity via a single sign in.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

FIG. 1 illustrates the functional components of a multimedia/gamingconsole 100 in which certain aspects of the present invention may beimplemented. The multimedia console 100 has a central processing unit(CPU) 101 having a level 1 cache 102, a level 2 cache 104, and a flashROM (Read Only Memory) 106. The level 1 cache 102 and a level 2 cache104 temporarily store data and hence reduce the number of memory accesscycles, thereby improving processing speed and throughput. The CPU 101may be provided having more than one core, and thus, additional level 1and level 2 caches 102 and 104. The flash ROM 106 may store executablecode that is loaded during an initial phase of a boot process when themultimedia console 100 is powered ON.

A graphics processing unit (GPU) 108 and a video encoder/video codec(coder/decoder) 114 form a video processing pipeline for high speed andhigh resolution graphics processing. Data is carried from the graphicsprocessing unit 108 to the video encoder/video codec 114 via a bus. Thevideo processing pipeline outputs data to an A/V (audio/video) port 140for transmission to a television or other display. A memory controller110 is connected to the GPU 108 to facilitate processor access tovarious types of memory 112, such as, but not limited to, a RAM (RandomAccess Memory).

The multimedia console 100 includes an I/O controller 120, a systemmanagement controller 122, an audio processing unit 123, a networkinterface controller 124, a first USB host controller 126, a second USBcontroller 128 and a front panel I/O subassembly 130 that are preferablyimplemented on a module 118. The USB controllers 126 and 128 serve ashosts for peripheral controllers 142(1)-142(2), a wireless adapter 148,and an external memory device 146 (e.g., flash memory, external CD/DVDROM drive, removable media, etc.). The network interface 124 and/orwireless adapter 148 provide access to a network (e.g., the Internet,home network, etc.) and may be any of a wide variety of various wired orwireless adapter components including an Ethernet card, a modem, aBluetooth module, a cable modem, and the like.

System memory 143 is provided to store application data that is loadedduring the boot process. A media drive 144 is provided and may comprisea DVD/CD drive, hard drive, or other removable media drive, etc. Themedia drive 144 may be internal or external to the multimedia console100. Application data may be accessed via the media drive 144 forexecution, playback, etc. by the multimedia console 100. The media drive144 is connected to the I/O controller 120 via a bus, such as a SerialATA bus or other high speed connection (e.g., IEEE 1394).

The system management controller 122 provides a variety of servicefunctions related to assuring availability of the multimedia console100. The audio processing unit 123 and an audio codec 132 form acorresponding audio processing pipeline with high fidelity and stereoprocessing. Audio data is carried between the audio processing unit 123and the audio codec 132 via a communication link. The audio processingpipeline outputs data to the A/V port 140 for reproduction by anexternal audio player or device having audio capabilities.

The front panel I/O subassembly 130 supports the functionality of thepower button 150 and the eject button 152, as well as any LEDs (lightemitting diodes) or other indicators exposed on the outer surface of themultimedia console 100. A system power supply module 136 provides powerto the components of the multimedia console 100. A fan 138 cools thecircuitry within the multimedia console 100.

The CPU 101, GPU 108, memory controller 110, and various othercomponents within the multimedia console 100 are interconnected via oneor more buses, including serial and parallel buses, a memory bus, aperipheral bus, and a processor or local bus using any of a variety ofbus architectures. By way of example, such architectures can include aPeripheral Component Interconnects (PCI) bus, PCI-Express bus, etc.

When the multimedia console 100 is powered ON, application data may beloaded from the system memory 143 into memory 112 and/or caches 102, 104and executed on the CPU 101. The application may present a graphicaluser interface that provides a consistent user experience whennavigating to different media types available on the multimedia console100. In operation, applications and/or other media contained within themedia drive 144 may be launched or played from the media drive 144 toprovide additional functionalities to the multimedia console 100.

The multimedia console 100 may be operated as a standalone system bysimply connecting the system to a television or other display. In thisstandalone mode, the multimedia console 100 allows one or more users tointeract with the system, watch movies, or listen to music. However,with the integration of broadband connectivity made available throughthe network interface 124 or the wireless adapter 148, the multimediaconsole 100 may further be operated as a participant in a larger networkcommunity.

When the multimedia console 100 is powered ON, a set amount of hardwareresources are reserved for system use by the multimedia consoleoperating system. These resources may include a reservation of memory(e.g., 16 MB), CPU and GPU cycles (e.g., 5%), networking bandwidth(e.g., 8 kbs), etc. Because these resources are reserved at system boottime, the reserved resources do not exist from the application's view.

In particular, the memory reservation preferably is large enough tocontain the launch kernel, concurrent system applications and drivers.The CPU reservation is preferably constant such that if the reserved CPUusage is not used by the system applications, an idle thread willconsume any unused cycles.

With regard to the GPU reservation, lightweight messages generated bythe system applications (e.g., popups) are displayed by using a GPUinterrupt to schedule code to render popup into an overlay. The amountof memory required for an overlay depends on the overlay area size andthe overlay preferably scales with screen resolution. Where a full userinterface is used by the concurrent system application, it is preferableto use a resolution independent of application resolution. A scaler maybe used to set this resolution such that the need to change frequencyand cause a TV resynch is eliminated.

After the multimedia console 100 boots and system resources arereserved, concurrent system applications execute to provide systemfunctionalities. The system functionalities are encapsulated in a set ofsystem applications that execute within the reserved system resourcesdescribed above. The operating system kernel identifies threads that aresystem application threads versus gaming application threads. The systemapplications are preferably scheduled to run on the CPU 101 atpredetermined times and intervals in order to provide a consistentsystem resource view to the application. The scheduling is to minimizecache disruption for the gaming application running on the console.

When a concurrent system application requires audio, audio processing isscheduled asynchronously to the gaming application due to timesensitivity. A multimedia console application manager (described below)controls the gaming application audio level (e.g., mute, attenuate) whensystem applications are active.

Input devices (e.g., controllers 142(1) and 142(2)) are shared by gamingapplications and system applications. The input devices are not reservedresources, but are to be switched between system applications and thegaming application such that each will have a focus of the device. Theapplication manager preferably controls the switching of input stream,without knowledge the gaming application's knowledge and a drivermaintains state information regarding focus switches.

The present invention is directed to a “Gamer Profile,” which serves asa building block for services and applications that aim to create asocial community of gamers and grow relationships among players. Inaccordance with the present invention, the Gamer Profile is the entiretyof information (e.g., metadata) related to a specific user (i.e., thegamer's digital identity). The Gamer Profile is developed from a set ofservices that collect and expose this information in a meaningful way tothe community. The Gamer Profile also provides for personalization suchthat users can customize and enhance their gaming experience. As will bediscussed in greater detail below, the Gamer Profile consists of variouscomponents, including, but not limited to, a Gamercard, gameachievements, and gamer preferences.

Referring to FIG. 2, there is illustrated an overview of an exemplaryarchitecture that may be used to implement the Gamer Profile. Theconsole 100 interacts with a remote service 158 that provides services160 such as voice/chat, a friends list, matchmaking, content download,roaming, feedback, tournaments, voice messaging, and updates to gamers.The service 158 also maintains the Gamer Profiles in a profile database162 and configuration data 164 used by the services 160 and games 154.The service 158 collects Gamer Profiles, aggregates, processesinformation supplied by other services 160, and fulfills real-timeclient requests for retrieving Gamer Profile-related services. The GamerProfiles in the database 162 are also used by the games 154 to enable,among other things, personalization and customization, etc.

Using the console 100, the user may interact with a guide 156. The guide156 provides an interface where the user may navigate to, and enter,various online areas and options provided by the service 158. Theconfiguration data 164 stored by the service 158 may be used todetermine features and options provided by the guide 156. When the game154 is running, a defined set of APIs are used to call and interact withthe services 160. When requesting Gamer Profile information via theAPIs, the game 154 may pass a unique identifier of a user. The service158 may return a Gamercard (discussed below), game stats, gameachievements, affiliations, game settings. etc. Additional details ofthe various aspects of the exemplary architecture are provided below.

Referring to FIG. 3, the Gamer Profile 166 is created when a usercreates a profile (selected from the guide 156) and chooses his/herunique Gamertag (a user's unique name), tile (picture/avatar associatedwith the user) other options during an account sign-up phase. Fromthere, a base Gamer Profile 166 is created. The Gamer Profile 166 maythen be populated from several sources. For example, the Gamer Profile166 may include self-described data 168 from the Gamer Profile owner.Other gamers 170 can provide feedback regarding the Gamer Profile owner.The service 158 may track the gamer's online and offline activity. Inaddition, the games 154 may report the gamer's statistics and gameachievements.

The owner of Gamer Profile can edit his/her Gamer Profile 166 directlyand control who can view each section of the Gamer Profile. The GamerProfile 166 may be edited via general fields (e.g., tile, country,language, gender, greeting, etc.) and/or system settings (e.g., voiceoutput, controller vibration, character name, game format, game mode,etc.). Privacy/Opt-out Settings can be tuned for the Gamer Profile to,e.g., restrict presence information only to friends, allow gameachievements to be visible to all, etc.

The Gamer Profile 166 may include feedback provided by other players170. Feedback helps others learn about a particular gamer. For example,if the gamer uses foul language or aggressive play in game sessions,other gamers may submit feedback to the service 158. The feedbackmechanism improves the user experience by building reputations. Playersare therefore anonymous, but not unknown because of the accumulatedfeedback.

As noted above the Gamer Profile 166 may be used for customization andpreference setting on a global level, as well as a per game level. Gamerpreferences aid games 154 in choosing defaults for common settings suchas game profile name, controller inversion and controller vibration,etc. For example, if a gamer likes using an inverted controller, thispreference will be used for new titles as they are played. Games 154have access to Gamer Profiles via the database 162 and services 160. Inaddition, game usage data can be mined to tune the game 154 to theuser's particular preferences and game features updated after theinitial game launch.

In another aspect of the invention, a unified sign-in is provided aspart of a ubiquitous identity that extends across multiple contexts,thus enabling a consistent player identity offline and online. Referringto FIG. 4, there are illustrated the contexts over which the presentinvention operates - offline 172, online 174, out-of-game/cross-game176, and in-game 178, which represents a convention console environment.The unified sign-in, combined with a mechanism for tracking offlineplayer activity, advantageously eliminates the problems in conventionalconsoles where players must juggle between profiles and accounts,sharing them with other players, and are unable to accumulated gameachievements while playing offline.

In addition, the present invention allows a player to create the in-gameprofile, such that default options and information (e.g., name,controller settings, etc.) are automatically set. The in-game profilesmay be automatically associated with offline accounts so each time aplayer plays a game, the profile is selected based on the offlineaccount. This minimizes the configuring and tweaking necessary for aplayer to get started in a new game or to continue in an old game aftersigning in.

In accordance with the present invention, a player may sign-in under asingle account that associates online activity that is out-of-game/crossgame, and/or online activity that is in-game, and/or activity that isoffline and in-game with that account, and/or offline out-of-game use.While online, the service 158, games 154 and console 100 track activityof gamers and provide usage statistics in the Gamer Profile 166. Whileoffline, the game console 100 and games 154 track the gamer's activityvia a mechanism for instrumenting games to collect detailed informationabout a specific player's in-game statistics and accomplishments.

The offline mechanism of the present invention provides severalfunctionalities. The first is caching and uploading achievements when anoffline account is enabled for an online account with the service 158.This allows players who have been using their offline accounts to uploadachievements collected offline to their Gamer Profile 166. This way,players can accumulate achievements offline that are credited towardsonline activities, e.g., tournaments, etc. that require high levels ofachievements. The second functionality is caching and uploadingachievements after playing offline. Players can play games on theconsole 100 anywhere, any time, and the statistics and achievements areupdated to the service 158 to reflect the play. This functionality alsooperates for new games that have yet to be played online. The GamerProfile 166 is updated during the next connection to the service 158 toreflect the offline play.

A third functionality of the offline mechanism is caching and uploadingachievements after a connectivity failure (e.g., an offlinesynchronization). At first, players may be hesitant to use a wirelessrouter for online play because of dropped connections. Because thepresent invention caches the statistics during transient connectivityproblems, achievements are updated online even if there are networkproblems. Additional functionalities may include viewing offlineachievements when signed-in online, or while offline, etc.

The process for creating and using a single sign in and offline accountswill now be described. Referring to FIG. 5, the first time a playerplays on the console 100, she may select to create a new offline oronline profile. If the user selects an offline profile, the new user maycreate an account using a GamerTag whereby default settings are applied.After the offline account is created, in-game profiles, game saves andgame achievements are organized and associated with the account. She mayalso choose default game settings, such as vibration OFF and invertercontrols ON at this time.

When players sign-up for an online account with the service 158 usingthe interface of FIG. 5, it may be possible that the GamerTag theyselected for their offline account is already taken. Therefore, theymust change their GamerTag for the new online account. If they acceptthe change, the offline account GamerTag renamed to the new GamerTag.Any accumulated offline achievements will be credited to the new onlineaccount so experienced players do not have to “start over” to showothers online that they are worthy players.

After an account is created (e.g., OKO), the user may select the accountas the default. The console 100 may automatically sign in the user whenthe game boots and provide a pop-up message such as “Welcome back, OKO(Press a button to sign-in somebody else),” require the user to selectthe default account as shown in FIG. 5, or provide a list of profiles toselect from (FIG. 6). After the user signs in, a main screen may beshown (FIGS. 7-8) that allows the user to select information related tothe profile, gaming play, or other options. In the context of a racinggame, statistics such as total points, mileage, hours driven, license,unlocks may be shown after the profile is selected.

The offline account may be stored on the memory unit 146 so may betransported from one console 100 to another. This is advantageous, forexample, if the player would like to play in a local tournament, whereshe can bring her memory unit 146 with her offline account and in-gameprofile on it. Since the player has most likely spent a great amount oftime tweaking the profile, it is preferable to bring the memory unit146, rather than re-create the profile.

Players should be notified if a memory unit 146 is not available so gameplay statistics and settings are not lost. Referring to FIGS. 9-11,there is illustrated exemplary user interfaces on the console 100 thatreflect this condition. If the user begins game play without signing in,the main screen (FIG. 10) displays a message under the career statisticsthat the user is not signed in and the user is warned when powering offthe console that all changes will be lost (FIG. 11).

While the present invention has been described in connection with thepreferred embodiments of the various Figs., it is to be understood thatother similar embodiments may be used or modifications and additions maybe made to the described embodiment for performing the same function ofthe present invention without deviating therefrom.

1. In a gaming console, a method of providing a unique player identity,said method comprising: receiving a credential associated with a profilefor a user; validating the credential; executing a videogame while thegaming console is offline, executing including executing a play of thevideogame on the gaming console; determining that an achievementassociated with the videogame has been earned during the play of thevideogame; caching offline user activity, the offline user activityoccurring during the play of the videogame; and transmitting, when thegaming console is online subsequent to the play of the videogame, asignal indicative of earning the achievement to a service providerconfigured to publish the profile for the user in an interactive guideaccessible to remote user devices, wherein the profile includes ausername, videogame statistics accumulated while playing videogames,information indicative of affiliations of the user, and videogameachievements earned while playing videogames.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein said profile further includes settings.
 3. The method of claim2, further comprising applying said settings in accordance with saidprofile for the user.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein said settingsare applied to game preferences and a controller.
 5. The method of claim1, further comprising associating an online service with said profile.6. The method of claim 5, further comprising: tracking online useractivity; and attributing said online user activity to said profile. 7.The method of claim 6, further comprising: synchronizing said offlineactivity to said profile such that said profile reflects both saidoffline and said online user activity.
 8. A computer readable storagemedium having stored thereon computer executable instructions forproviding a unique player identity, said instructions comprisinginstructions for: receiving a credential associated with a profile for auser; determining that a network connection to a service provider cannot be established; logging the user onto a computer system; executing avideogame while the computer system is offline, executing includingexecuting a play of the videogame on the computer system; determiningthat an achievement associated with the videogame has been earned duringthe play of the videogame; caching offline user activity, the offlineuser activity occurring during the play of the videogame; storinginformation identifying that the achievement was earned in a localmemory; determining that a network connection to the service providerhas been established; transmitting, when the computer system is onlinesubsequent to the play of the videogame, a signal indicative of earningthe achievement to the service provider configured to publish theprofile for the user in an interactive guide accessible to remote userdevices, wherein the profile includes a username, videogame statisticsaccumulated while playing videogames, and videogame achievements earnedwhile playing videogames.
 9. The computer readable medium of claim 8,wherein said profile further includes settings.
 10. The computerreadable medium of claim 9, further comprising instructions for applyingsaid settings in accordance with profile for the user.
 11. The computerreadable medium of claim 10, wherein said settings are applied to gamepreferences and a controller.
 12. The computer readable medium of claim8, further comprising instructions for associating an online servicewith said profile.
 13. The computer readable medium of claim 12, furthercomprising instructions for: tracking online user activity; andattributing said online user activity to said profile.
 14. The computerreadable medium of claim 13, further comprising instructions for:synchronizing said offline activity to said profile such that saidprofile reflects both said offline and said online user activity.
 15. Acomputer system, comprising: a processor; and a computer readablestorage medium operatively coupled to the processor includinginstructions for: receiving a credential associated with a profile for auser; validating the credential; executing a videogame while thecomputer system is offline, executing including executing a play of thevideogame on the computer system; determining that an achievementassociated with the videogame has been earned during the play of thevideogame; and transmitting, when the gaming console is onlinesubsequent to the play of the videogame, a signal indicative of earningthe achievement to a service provider configured to publish the profilefor the user in an interactive guide accessible to remote user devices,wherein the profile includes a username, videogame statisticsaccumulated while playing videogames, and videogame achievements earnedwhile playing videogames.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein saidprofile further includes settings.
 17. The system of claim 16, furthercomprising applying said settings in accordance with said in-gameprofile.